Taking their lead from “President Obama’s recent proposal, a bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to empower him and future presidents to get a quick vote in Congress on deleting spending items from annual appropriations measures soon after they have been signed into law,” the New York Times reports.

The concept, known as expedited rescissions authority, is designed as a constitutional alternative to a line-item veto, which the Supreme Court, in 1998, ruled violated Congress’s power of the purse. Some Congressional leaders are no less opposed, though growing antideficits fervor in this election year has lawmakers looking for ways to respond.

Some background on the bill:

Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin and a lead sponsor of the legislation, acknowledged, “It will be a battle, but I have every reason to believe this can pass,” perhaps in the coming year, “and you have a Democratic president who wants it.”

The administration supports the Senate version, an official said. It would require a president to send Congress proposed rescissions within 45 calendar days after signing an appropriations measure – sooner than the 45 Congressional business days that Mr. Obama proposed as a deadline. Congress would have to consider the president’s rescissions proposal immediately and the House and Senate could not amend it.

Among Mr. Feingold’s co-sponsors are Senator Thomas R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware, and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona.

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